Business Entities and Estate Planning

What do business entities have to do with estate planning?

People who own business entities, like Corporations, LLC’s and Limited Partnerships NEED Estate Plans. Often estate plans are kept completely separate from business entities, this can cause problems between family members and partners as the business is passed on or shared with family members.

As an estate grows business entities can become powerful assets to pass on to family members. If there isn’t one, we will often create one to take advantage of their fractionalized ownership. It is important to set them up so that sharing ownership does not disrupt the client’s control of the company and its continued viability.

How the entity is set up and owned will determine:

How it is taxed

If there will be a tax at the time of the founder’s death

If it will be vulnerable to litigation or other liabilities

All of these factors need to be explored and planned for to ensure that the business entity remains a viable asset for the family for years to come.